After months of local and national media priming the pump for ambiguous or delayed results on election day, Georgia has become the latest state to say the count could be delayed beyond Nov. 5. 

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

Georgia joins Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, as well as Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina — each a critical swing state with thin margins — in expecting delayed results on election night. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger has said the count in that state could be held up for votes from overseas. 

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

Do you think the economy will come back roaring quickly when Trump takes office?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from The Midwesterner, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

Having merit or no, challenges of fraud in the 2020 presidential election have dogged the results of 2020 since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. Claims of late-night ballot dumps, states called prematurely, or Georgia’s inability to audit ballots in Fulton County, became a convenient slur for Democrats and legacy media to smear Trump supporters as conspiracy theorists or “election-deniers.” 

But the slurs and lack of sunlight from officials, including officials fighting calls for transparency tooth and nail, now exacerbated by the specter of delayed results, have done little to inspire confidence in the system itself, and therein lies the problem. Will the threat of delayed results add fuel to the fire? 

A look at the swing states anticipating delayed results, and why: 

Georgia

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Georgia’s results could be held up for votes from overseas. Ballots from abroad are part of a Democrat strategy that hearkens to 2020. 

Claims of fraud in the 2020 have enjoyed varying success in courts, including in Georgia

Raffensperger touts the fact that significant portions of the state’s count will all be on paper ballots, though the state was called in the 2020 presidential race by fewer than 12,000 votes. 

Georgia has a pattern of difficulties with election results.  A watchdog group confirmed the state destroyed 2020 ballots amidst a lawsuit in 2021 before an audit could be conducted. The state has a history predating 2020 of evidence destroyed in the midst of lawsuits. In 2017, under then Secretary of State Brian Kemp, now Georgia’s governor, Georgia officials deleted election data a day after Kemp’s office was notified of a suit over the results. 

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania, which saw margins in the tens of thousands in 2020, has seen court fights over whether undated or improperly dated mail-in ballots could count before the state’s Supreme Court declared last month they cannot. 

Officials say Pennsylvania’s ban on pre-canvassing votes, counting them ahead of time, could mean delays, even as advocates point out Texas and Florida, with populations larger than Pennsylvania, are able to turn out results on election night. 

Michigan

Michigan called results the night after election day in 2020, and 2024 could be no different according to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. 

Wisconsin

Like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin does not pre-canvass mail-in ballots. 

Meanwhile, Arizona’s count is unlikely to improve on 2020’s turnaround time, while North Carolina and Nevada could also see delays. 

One hurdle for claims of fraud to overcome has been the lengthy process of litigating the claims — months and years after media declared Joe Biden the victor in 2020. Sunlight in vote counting and audits could head this dynamic off at the pass. 

With the media driving the delayed results narrative, and for those suspicious of results from a late count of ballots, what can be done? Assuming hypothetically there is a “margin of cheating” in an election, and one entity could identify what that margin is and exploit it, removing that possibility is the path to inspiring confidence. 

Only sunlight on the count, and common sense measures, are liable to still confidence in a process in multiple states that has done little to inspire confidence itself. The delays in results are no different.